Would I qualify for a German visa or citizenship?

Hi all

Myself and my wife are both South African born, but unlike me, my wife also has a German passport without ever having lived there herself, due to her German father who has been living in South Africa yonks. We have now been live in the UK for about three years with our baby who has also now received her German passport, due to my wife's German heritage.

My question is that because we want to move permanently to Germany would circumstances such as ours where all of my family (wife and child) hold German passports qualify me for a passport also?

Id really appreciate any advice offered here.

Thanks in advance

Quinn

No, not automatically.

Even without a German passport you'll have the right to work here and should get an initial three-year Aufenthaltserlaubnis. After three years residency and marriage to a German for at least two (you'll have that covered) you will be able to apply for German citizenship, but I am pretty sure Germany will make you give up your RSA citizenship if you get naturalized as a German.

yes you would after a certain time (3 years marriage plus 3 years living together in Germany), but they would ask you to relinquish your South African passport. The general rule is that Germany does not allow dual citizenship. Exceptions are made for EU and Swiss nationals and also for people born with two citizenships (like in your wife's case). If you want to acquire German citizenship (rather than be born into it) you will be asked to relinquish your current citizenship.

Being married to a German entitles you to a residence permit. After two years living together in Germany, this becomes unlimited. After the third year living in Germany together (and being married for at least 3 years as well) you can apply for German citizenship.

Thanks for the response.

Owain Glyndwr:

So I would firstly need to obtain some sort of work or other temporary visa (for 3 years) with which to gain entry to Germany, then excluding our years marriage already, we would need to be living together, married in Germany for an additional 3 years, is that right? Relinquishing my SA citizenship in order to remain with my family would be a given, so i am fine with that.

Conquistador: You are correct we absolutely want to relocate to Germany soonest, and although i could wait for my UK residency to take affect, im not sure i want to wait that long. I hear you when you say once im there i would easily give up my SA citizenship, for some odd reason i feel drawn to Germany...who knows why, ive never even been there before.

if you are married to a german, then you are entitled to the residence permit. Do not have to worry about work/temporary visa.

see the last paragraph in my post above. You will be given a residence permit on the basis of your marriage which is limited to 2 years. After the two years are up and you are still living together and still married this permit becomes unlimited. Then after the third year is up you can apply for citizenship.

That is my understanding also, except that my wife has never actually lived there and has no family there anymore. I was previously told that this is different to if she actually lived or lives there which would have meat we could have taken that route. Im not entirely sure if that is a fact or not.

OG, based on the experience of others, I am fairly sure he should get a three-year Aufenthaltserlaubnis (unless some civil servant is in a bad mood that day).

Quinn, although you probably will like it here, I would caution you to get to know Germany first before thinking about taking the big step of getting naturalized since you probably will have to give up your RSA citizenship. If you really feel the need to have the citizenship of a EU member state, it might be faster to get it in the UK (I say might because I have no idea what the residency requirements are there). Just something to think about, along with the possibility of keeping your RSA citizenship if you naturalize as a UK citizen.

3 years isn't long enough to naturalise as a UK citizen, i don't think. I believe 5 years is the minimum if you aren't married to a British citizen.

Thanks for all that. I had my doubts mainly due to the fact that although German, my wife has never actually lived there and she has no family there, but it seems the overall tone here is that it is very possible for us to relocate without too many complications. Perhaps just in-case, i should also apply for the Aufenthaltserlaubnis as well.

Conquistador: We realise it would be a big step, but then so was our move here to the UK from sunny RSA. Luckily i've known a few Germans in my time, so i have an idea as to what the culture and people are like, and i have no problems with that. Perhaps being surrounded by the German culture 24/7 would take some adapting too, but were ok with that for sure.

after two years you are entitled to an unlimited permit that is not tied to your marital status. If you were to divorce before the 2 years are up, you *could* lose your right to permanent abode. After 2 years you don't.

Quin, I'm not exactly sure of the process but getting the permit should be a formality, though I don't know whether you have to apply before you arrive in the country or whether you can just roll up to the Stadtverwaltung where you move to and apply for it when you register your address.

Ja, i would have thought that i would probably need to be in the country on some sort of visa maybe a Aufenthaltserlaubnis and then apply. Then again that is purely an assumption based on the fact that they would probably want to make sure i have a place to stay before any grants are made, which means i would need to be in the country with my family. Like i said, thanks again for all the responses, i guess the next question now will be where in Germany we would go once all the above is sorted out, but that probably a question for another thread.

I will definitely have a chat with the embassy (their closed today) about this and let you all know how it works out.

Yes, but since he has already been there for three, he would be able to apply ca. one year sooner in the UK than he would in Germany. Of course, who knows how long it takes once you apply to actually get approved?

Hi Quinn,
Not sure if this also applies to South Africans, but this is how it will work for my US-American husband when we move to Germany in September (I'm German/American dual citizen). He doesn't need a visa, he will simply enter as a tourist. Then we need to both register with the Rathaus (city hall), which is really just a formality. We will then take our registration with the city to the Ausländerbehörde (the public authority responsible for aliens) along with our marriage certificate and he will be issued a limited residency permit (not sure if it's two or three years) on the spot. After that the limitation will be removed and he will be issued an unlimited permit. From what I understand it works this way with all nationalities that can enter Germany as tourists without previously applying for a visa. And yes, I did get all this information directly from the Ausländerbehörde last time I was in Germany. I think they said that they want you to register within the first 10 days of entering Germany.

But as always, don't rely on us for correct info and go right to the source.

Good luck!

Table of countries whose citizens require/do not require visas to enter Germany

Could anyone tell me what is the exact rule.
As mentioned by Owain "After two years living together in Germany, this becomes unlimited. After the third year living in Germany together (and being married for at least 3 years as well) you can apply for German citizenship."
I am non-EU citizen married to German and living here for 3 years married.Am i eligible for unlimited or Citizenship.Now i am holding a Aufehhalt which is till next year.

Sounds as though you are eligible to apply for citizenship.

After two years it will not be unlimited. Upto 3 years it will be limited and dependant on your spouse.
likewise, after 5 years you can apply for citizenship provided you are married to a german. Otherwise, you can apply only after 8 years of living in Germany and minimum 5 years paying taxes.

for reference!!!

i would be positively surprised to find if the number of years required are reduced... I am in the same situation ...